FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention described in the instant application relates to a transmitter housing for connecting a water level transmitter to a lye or washing solution runoff bellows in a washing machine, the transmitter housing having an essentially elongated and cylindrical shape which is connected at a basal end face thereof to a corresponding nozzle or union of the lye runoff bellows of a tub of the washing machine and is connected by the other basal end face thereof to the water level transmitter.
As is generally known, such a transmitter housing is substantially tubular, being connected, at a basal end face thereof having a smaller cross section than that of the other basal end face thereof, to the water level transmitter which is based upon the so-called pressure measurement principle. Conventionally, at the basal end face of the transmitter housing having the larger cross section, such a pressure transmitter housing is connected to a nozzle or union of a lye runoff bellows at a lower orifice of the tub of the washing machine and is fastened by a pipe strap or a hose clamp.
The transmitter housing according to the invention which is described herein serves for use in automatic washing machines and, by being connected to a standard line of the rubber bellows for effecting runoff from the tub, and to the water level transmitter, permits the water level in the tub to be checked.
It is therefore necessary for the body of the transmitter housing to be completely leakproof in order to ensure fully satisfactory functioning, because faulty measurement of the apparatus may otherwise result.
Of the transmitter housing bodies heretofore provided in the marketplace, that which is formed by a tubular body is significant for the invention of the instant application. For the purpose of connecting the transmitter housing to the nozzle or union of the rubber lye runoff bellows of the washing machine tub, the tubular body, at the basal end faces thereof, terminates in a portion having a cross section formed as a circular ring or crown which is slipped onto the rubber union or nozzle and fastened by a metal clip, whereas, at the other basal end face thereof, the transmitter housing body has a tubular outlet having a cross section of a circular ring of relatively small diameter which is connected to the water level transmitter.
In addition, in order to fasten the transmitter housing securely, the latter is affixed to the body of the tub by a clip formed of plastic material and a suitable fastening screw.
On the other hand, the substantially tubular portion of the transmitter housing has an oval portion with very large flattened sides, several bends being described thereby, due to which it is not possible to reproduce the shape thereof by an injection molding process, because the transmitter housing has undercuts in the structure thereof. The transmitter housing body is therefore produced by a more expensive blowing or blasting operation and, at the surface thereof, has some unevennesses which could give rise to leakage at the connection locations.
As a consequence thereof, and because the transmitter housing body must be completely leakproof, the end for connecting the transmitter housing body to the union or nozzle of the lye runoff bellows of the tub has a smooth outer surface, in order to achieve complete tightness against leakage. Furthermore, because the ends of the transmitter housing body can be produced by a blowing or blasting operation only without any thickening at the outer ends thereof, the tube ends of the transmitter housing exhibit great flexibility which, during the fastening operation, may result in deformations and therefore to a malfunction of the apparatus, because it is not completely leakproof.